The Politics of Film meet the Politics of Water

During the month of March CitizenShift, a media activist project based out of the National Film Board of Canada offices, and the Council of Canadians, the largest citizen-based advocacy group in Canada, are teaming up to bring the issue of water to movie screens across the country. From Vancouver to Montreal, the politics of water will be presented in ten short docs as well as through discussion between guest speakers and the audience. In a country that uses more water per capita than most other industrialized nations, it is high time for action. Could it be more appropriate to have political cinema and discussion address water issues in a country that averages between 10 and 13 Litres of drinking water per flush? (Although the Canadian Standards Association reports that new 6 Litre flush toilets have been testing well in market trial runs).

Canada ranks a dismal 28th among the 29 nations of the OECD in terms of per capita water consumption. Only Americans use more water than Canadians. Canada uses 1,600 cubic metres of water per person per year. This is more than twice as much water as the average person from France, three times as much as the average German, almost four times as much as the average Swede and more than eight times as much as the average Dane. Canada’s per capita water consumption is 65% above the OECD average.

Let's hope the power of political film has some pull with people, inspiring us to make some serious changes in our consumption habits. For more on this project, visit the CitizenShift water dossier. For more information on H20, visit the World Water Day site. The photo at right was part of a art guerrilla project for World Water Day 2006, where 500 stickers were placed in wash basins and sinks around Belgium and Mexico (where the forum was held). Read about the stunt here.